Worcester's Canal District digs in heels for slots cash

Sunday

May 26, 2013 at 6:00 AMMay 26, 2013 at 6:06 AM

By Thomas Caywood TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

Leaders of a Canal District business group say they will oppose the plan for a $200 million slots parlor near Kelley Square unless the agreement between the city and developer to be put to voters later this year includes significant money toward recreating the Blackstone Canal.

“No canal, no slots,” said John G. Giangregorio, president of the Canal District Business Association.

Mr. Giangregorio, who owns a sports bar on Millbury Street, said the group wants an upfront payment of $3 million from Chicago-based Rush Street Gaming — enough to pay for the planning, design and engineering of the $34 million canal project.

He and other members of the association said in interviews that building the replica canal and associated plazas and walkways to attract people to the neighborhood is the only step sufficient to offset what they expect to be a financial drain on their shops, taverns and restaurants, caused by a sprawling gambling complex in their midst siphoning away discretionary spending around the clock.

They want the canal project funding written into the host community agreement between the city and Rush Street Gaming as a condition of their support.

The eventual agreement must be approved by Worcester residents at the polls later this year for the slots parlor project to be considered by the state gambling commission. Organized opposition from merchants and residents in the neighborhood most affected by the project potentially could sway voters who haven’t made up their minds about the proposed slots parlor.

“The slots in Kelley Square and a hotel downtown doesn’t generate any economic benefit for the Canal District,” Mr. Giangregorio said. “The canal project does. That’s what would help. That’s what this community wants.”

While disputing the association’s contention that the slots parlor would not benefit other neighborhood businesses, a Rush Street spokeswoman said the company does plan to make some kind of significant investment in the Canal District if it wins the state’s lone slots parlor license.

“The exact form of the investment and the amount will be negotiated as part of the host community agreement, and we look forward to including the interested stakeholders in those discussions,” said Justine Griffin of the Boston public relations firm Rasky Baerlein Strategic Communications.

The association already has floated the canal project funding idea to Rush Street executives, including its billionaire chairman Neil G. Bluhm and City Manager Michael V. O’Brien in separate meetings. But the group hasn’t previously made its support for the slots parlor contingent on such funding.

Mr. Giangregorio said Rush Street executives and the city manager both seemed open to the idea, but were noncommittal.

Michael Komends, who owns the Brickyard Building on Water Street, said he didn’t want vague assurances from the city or developer to put some money toward the canal project at some undetermined time after the slots parlor is built.

“We’ve all been here working hard for this neighborhood for years. The canal recreation should happen at the same time as the slots parlor,” Mr. Komends said.

“The only economic spinoff we’re going to see from this in the Canal District is if we do this canal,” added Jeff Mararian, who owns the Blackstone Tap on Water Street and another building on Green Street.

“This slots parlor would be a drain on us financially, so we want the canal. That’s what we need to support it.”

The association’s stand could conflict with the priorities of the city manager, who has looked to tap the Chicago gambling company’s deep pockets to support an effort by another developer to build a luxury hotel downtown. Rush Street’s Mr. Bluhm told city councilors at a public meeting that the only reason he agreed to partner with the hotel developer, Carpenter & Co. Inc. of Cambridge, was because city officials said that’s what they wanted.

Members of the Canal District association said Mr. O’Brien had not sought input from the group, so it asked for a meeting with him, which happened a little over a week ago after several requests.

“I think he’s listening, but my thing is that actions speak louder than words,” Mr. Mararian said. “We need to see a commitment in writing in the host community agreement.”

Mr. O’Brien did not respond to a request for comment on the association’s pledge to oppose the slots plan unless money for the canal is written into the host community agreement he is negotiating.

Mullen Sawyer of the Oak Hill Community Development Corp., a member of the association’s board of directors, said his support for the slots parlor is contingent upon Rush Street Gaming contributing money to the canal project and to the hotel proposed for CitySquare downtown.

“Anything less than that, and it’s a drain on the city,” Mr. Sawyer said.

The idea of replicating portions of the historic Blackstone Canal has been little more than a distant, costly dream for more than a decade. But members of the association see piggybacking on the slots plan as their best chance yet to push the languishing canal project forward.

“The city needs a draw like the canal. We can’t miss this opportunity,” said Dino Lorusso, who owns Crompton Place on Green Street.

A city feasibility study drawn up a decade ago by an architectural firm hired with state and federal grant funds envisioned a scenic canal and walkway running from Union Station five blocks along Harding Street to Kelley Square, where a reconstruction of a canal lock would anchor a small plaza.

Some property owners on Harding Street spoke out against the plan at the time, saying it would cut off their street frontage and complicate deliveries to their businesses.

But Lorraine Laurie, a community advocate who lives in the area, said the neighborhood owes its existence to the canal.

“The Blackstone Canal made this neighborhood. If you hadn’t had the canal, we’d be standing in a swamp right now,” Ms. Laurie said.

The state Gaming Commission’s timeline calls for any slots parlor host community agreements to be signed by August. The agreements must be approved by voters at referendums two to three months after the agreements are signed, but no later than October, to be considered by the state.

Three other slots proposals are competing with the Worcester plan for the state’s one slots-only license, including a dog track-turned-simulcast racing center near Taunton and a harness track in Plainville. The fourth bidder is still in the market for a location after Boxboro selectmen declined to enter into host community negotiations earlier this month.

The state expects to award the license by the end of the year.

Contact Thomas Caywood at tcaywood@telegram.com or follow him on Twitter @CaywoodTG

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.